Installing classroombookings

Overview

The procedure for installing classroombookings should be straightforward for those familiar with web based software.

Create a new empty database, and a user that has full access.

Download the latest version archive and extract it.

Upload all the extracted files to a web-accessible location on the web server (sometimes referred to as the 'document root'). This can be at root level, a subdomain, or a subfolder.

Ensure the local and uploads directories have 'write' permissions. On Unix-based systems, this is usually 664 or 775.

Using a web browser, visit the URL of the folder where you extracted the files. E.g. http://local-server/classroombookings/

This will load the installer which will guide you through the rest of the installation process.

For more details guidance, continue reading.

Create the database

Classroombookings needs its own empty database. The procedure for doing this will vary depending on your server or hosting configuration, but you will commonly use an administrator-level account (such as 'root') to create the database and user account. It is easy to do this using visual tools like Adminer, HeidiSQL and phpMyAdmin, but it is possible to do it via the mysql command line client.

Using the client

This example shows how to log in to a server as the root user, creating the database 'crbs_db' and user 'crbs_user' with the password '6vTccw7zYF'. Replace these with your own choice of names and password.

Make a note of the database name, username and password. You will need them later.

Download, extract and upload

If you have the ability to download and extract zip files on the server itself, it's quicker, safer and more efficient to do that.

This example shows how to do this on the command line using the tools wget and unzip. Replace the URL to the zip file with the latest version, from the Download page. Change directory into the web server document root or classroombookings folder first, as the zip file will be extracted into the current folder.

If you don't have command line access to the server, download the zip file of the latest version from the website using a web browser and save it to your computer. Extract the archive to a temporary folder. You will then need to transfer all of these files to the server. How you do this will depend on what protocols your server supports, but this is commonly done via SCP, SFTP or FTP.

Filesystem permissions

There are two folders that need 'write' permissions from the web server user. This is essential for core functionality (user sessions and log files) and uploaded files (user import CSV, school logo, room photos) to work properly.

On Unix-based systems, this is usually represented by 664 or 775 in numeric values; or 'drwxrwxr-x' in its string representation.

If these aren't already set, you should be able to do this on the command line like in this example:

$ chmod -R 775 local
$ chmod -R 775 uploads

If you don't have command line access, most file transfer applications such as WinSCP or FileZilla allow these to be set via the interface.

Run the installer

Using a browser, visit the IP address or URL on the server where the classroombookings files were extracted. You should see the following page.

In the Database connection details section, enter the details for connecting to your database. In the Configuration section, ensure the auto-detected URL matches the address that will be used by all users to access classroombookings. If it is not correct, change it to the address that will be used.

Click Next. The installer will test the database connection using the details provided.

If the database connection test was successful, the next page will be displayed.

Enter the name of your school in the School name field.

Enter the desired username and password of the initial administrator-level user. This user will be created during the installation process. Remember the details you use, you will need these to log in after classroombookings has been installed.

Click Next.

The final page checks if certain requirements are met and displays the status. If all items are OK, you can finish the installation by clicking Install.

If there are any problems, the status will show an Error indicator and some guidance notes about what needs to be done.

Once it has been installed, click the link to go to the Login page. Enter the administrator user details you created earlier.